The invention relates to diaphragm or cup springs for assemblies, for instance, friction clutches, with a ring-shaped base and tongues extending therefrom radially or at an angle, especially in an inward direction, and separated from each other by slots which end radially outwardly to hole-like cutouts. Furthermore, the invention relates to assemblies which comprise such cup springs.
In friction clutches of the type disclosed in DE-OS Nos. 2 306 255 and 2 543 693, the configuration of hole-like cutouts through which extend means for holding the cup spring on the clutch cover depends on the form and/or dimensioning of the holding means because the holding means are completely confined in the cutouts. Therefore, possible variations of the forms of cutouts are relatively limited because, generally, the cup spring is also centered by the holding means. For example, an increase in the size of the cutouts, which increases the service life of the cup spring, is possible only to a limited extent because this would necessitate the use of holding means with a correspondingly larger shaft cross-section. In addition to the cost increase due to the enlarged shaft cross-section, a further disadvantage is that such holding means take up a relatively large amount of space and considerably increase the weight of the clutch.
If the holding means were cut out from the cover material, the cover would be weakened to a great extent, whereby the proper functioning of the clutch could be affected.